The importance of not giving up

The Principle

As business people, we often try to cajole, intimidate and otherwise implore our employees, co-workers and anybody else that we have a relationship with to not give up. That is, we really want everyone to try their hardest, until the last possible moment. That way, they can squeeze every ounce of productivity and self-fulfillment out of each day. This leads to increased profitability (which is nice), but also leads to increased employee satisfaction (which is great as this leads to less turnover, better employees, better morale and a ton of other great effects).

The Reality

Unfortunately, many people (most people?) do not try until the last possible moment. There are tons of factors for this: laziness (yes, some people are just lazy), fear (some people don't want to try as they believe that they only get punished for problems and not rewarded for solutions and, therefore, there is only downside to trying - is this your company?),) and entitlement (they believe that they don't have to work super-hard as they don't need it).

The Lesson

Tonight, the United States tied Portugal in soccer, 2-2. The real problem is that Portugal scored in the final minute. The United States appeared to believe that the game was over and essentially quit trying to control the ball. This led to a quick strike in the end by Portugal.